James is no Charlton

I finally saw “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” a prequel to the “Planet of the Apes” films. I saw it Sunday at a Sioux Falls theater complex that plays older movies.

It wasn’t as fun as I expected. There was one enjoyably cheesy moment when a bad guy, played by Tom Felton (who’s in danger of being typecast because his character might as well have been called Draco Malfoy), tells a chimp, “Get your damned dirty paws off of me,” or some such words — echoing Charlton Heston’s exhortation to an ape in “Planet of the Apes.”

The 100 percent human actors were so-so. I’m usually a fan of the movie’s second lead, James Franco, but he was boring in this movie. Maybe he thought he was portraying a scientist properly. But come on, James, you are acting in a movie with a talking ape — loosen up a little!

The movie took place in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was fun to see San Francisco get torn up by vengeful monkeys. I love San Francisco, but I admit I liked seeing a chimp ride a cable car and climb on the Golden Gate Bridge. Other fun images were apes appearing on top of buildings overlooking Market Street or maybe it was Van Ness Boulevard — I'm not sure what street exactly. It could have been the city and county buildings on Van Ness. They really made a mess — breaking windows and overturning cars. I recently read that San Franciscans have more pets than children. And this is how they're repaid.